The decision to relocate Futenma to Henoko has generated large-scale protests both on land and on the sea over the summer. Some commentators are calling the events at Henoko Japan’s Ferguson, referring to the fatal shooting of an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, Missouri by police in August, which provoked protests and riots.

As video hosted on the local Ryuku Shimpo shows, as of mid-September 2014, protesters who venture near the construction are being swiftly apprehended and detained by a large force of Coast Guard personnel for violating a court order (令状主義違反) to stay away from the area.

Despite its small size (Okinawa covers just 0.6 percent of Japan's land area) Okinawa hosts at least 28 American military installations and three quarters of American service personnel stationed in Japan. About 20 percent of Okinawa is devoted to military installations, a legacy of Okiniwa’s postwar status as an American “trustee” territory that was only returned to Japan in 1972.

Despite talk of relocating the Marines to Guam, and pre-election promises by local politicians to resist building at Henoko, US forces will not be leaving Okinawa any time soon. Okinawa residents feel betrayed.

The new American military base at Henoko in Okinawa will be construction on a coral reef and seagrass beds which is inhabited by the dugong, an endangered marine mammal protected under Japanese and US law.

Keiko Tsuyama, a New York-based Japanese journalist interviewed by GV recently, says, “If this sort of project were planned for the East Coast or the West Coast of the United States, it would never be tolerated by Americans. Why Henoko?”

Peaceful Protest, Disproportionate Response

Local resentment over the decision to build a base at Henoko quickly grew following the agreement in late 2014. Over the summer, the road in front of construction site at Henoko had become a large protest camp.

Some protesters have been camped out here since 1996, when plans were first made to locate the base at Henoko:

While there has been television coverage of the protests, the footage generally captures a low-intensity cat-and-mouse game occurring between authorities and protesters.

For example, a local news report from September 3, 2014, showed security forces chasing off a protester who has draped a net over a platform used to drill boreholes for a seismic study. (Update: Since the publication of this story, this video has been deleted.)

The Coast Guard is using aggressive tactics and intimidation to asset control over the sea off Henoko. To get a sense of the tactics, watch the video below. We have received video taken by local residents of Nago of officers boarding protest vessels off the planned base site – this is the first time these images have been posted online for the public to see.

It's unlikely aggressive tactics will be enough to deter an Okinawan population that first survived the Battle of Okinawa at the end of the war, then 30 years of American occupation, and now years of pressuring government to reduce the number of American bases in the prefecture.

27 comments

Henoko could be described as Japan’s ‘Ferguson’, or it could be Japan’s “Montgomery Alabama” The non military residents of Okinawa have been experiencing this discrimination and bullying for over 70 years now. Many are fed up with it and feel it’s time to make a change. University students are gathering now and say they want this to be the ‘last generation of military base problems in Okinawa’.

You should seek independence, and file a war crimes complaint against the United States. I was station at futenma for 4 years. I cannot believe that US generals are still allowing you to be treated like this. You may not get the support from Washington, but this is probably whats best for you. If the majority of Americans actually understood what was happening I am pretty sure they would disapprove. The US military in Okinawa is less than honorable and truly a disgrace to American values.

＞★★★”Characterized by covert collusion amidst Tokyo and Washington, which began with a clandestine postwar agreement to allow the US administration to set up military bases there indefinitely, campaigners say the region’s history is one of bloodshed and sacrifice at the behest of mainland Japan. ”／「東京の中の隠れた共謀とワシントン（それは米国管理を無期限に軍事基地をそこで建てさせる秘密の戦後の合意から始めました）によって特徴づけます、運動員は、地域の歴史が流血の1つと本土日本の強要の犠牲であると言います。」

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Explanation:
The part with “the nuclear weapon” is performed deletion of for an article of this “Reuters/Kyodo” definitely. The follows are article contents of “Guardian”. It is described with “a nuclear weapon” definitely.
It is the evidence that “Reuters/Kyodo” conceals the truth that “a nuclear weapon” is the center of the Okinawa problem for a reader as for it daringly and reports.
How do you think?
I am inhabitants of field, Okinawa. I am angry.／説明：
この”Reuters/Kyodo”の記事には「核兵器」との部分が削除明確されています。下記は”ガーディアン”の記事内容です。「核兵器」と明確に記述されています。
それは、「核兵器」が沖縄問題の中心であるという真実を”Reuters/Kyodo”は読者に対してあえて隠蔽して報道している証拠です。
貴方はどう思いますか?
私は現地・沖縄の住民である。私は怒っています。
★★★”The history of Okinawa, Tomochi argues, is one of bloody sacrifice at mainland Japan’s behest, and collusion between Tokyo and Washington, beginning with a secret postwar agreement to allow the US to bring nuclear weapons to the island and maintain military bases there indefinitely.”／「沖縄の歴史は、米国が島に核兵器を持ってきて、無期限に軍事基地をそこで維持するのを許す秘密の戦後の合意から始めて、本土日本の強要の残忍な犠牲の1人と東京とワシントン間のなれあいであると、Tomochiは主張します。」http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/15/okinawa-independence-scotland-japan-us-military-base
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